posted at 7:07 pm on September 1, 2010 by Ed Morrissey

Have you ever known people who pass the time of day by arguing with themselves? Barbara Boxer almost gets to that level in this video clip from the San Francisco Chronicle and Debra Saunders, who can’t quite believe that Boxer’s delusion is so detailed. Boxer talks at length about how then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice failed to provide an answer to her during a Senate hearing on how many troops had been killed in action in Iraq. Boxer took a lot of heat from her remarking on Rice’s childless status as a way to criticize the Bush administration for going to war in Iraq, a cheap shot that Boxer attempts to rehabilitate in this interview by claiming that she shared that status with Rice, even though she had children and grandchildren, and that it was Rice’s failure to answer her question that she criticized:

“I asked her how many people had died and she did not know the answer to that question. And since we had lost a lot of Californians, I was concerned. And I said, you and I don’t have, we haven’t paid a person price, I said, you and I, I said, myself, my grandkids are too young, my husband too old, and as far as I know you don’t have anybody in the war. So I tried to use it to bring us together, but the right-wing press said that I questioned, that I turned on her because she wasn’t married which was a little silly.”

Except Boxer never asked Rice that question. In fact, Boxer asked a ridiculous hypothetical after choosing to use most of her time in a tiresome monologue. And Saunders provides the video proof, too:

In fact, what Boxer asked Rice was how many casualties Rice expected in the future from surge operations. She found it “really appalling” that the Bush administration didn’t have a forecast of deaths in hand when it planned the surge. Exactly what did Boxer expect to hear, that Rice had consulted a couple of fortune tellers? Flipped through a few tarot cards? Consulted a Magic 8-Ball?

Either Boxer is deliberately lying about this in order to avoid criticism of her behavior, or she really believes in the fantasy argument she had with Rice in her own mind. I’m not sure which would be worse, but neither recommends Boxer for any further service in the US Senate.

Addendum: The C-SPAN clip is worth watching all the way through to remember just how wrong Boxer was on the surge, too. At the very least, Rice and Bush forecast that success with a lot more accuracy than Boxer did its failure.

Mm. While I’m sure that Senator Ma’am cares not a whit about our troops or their casualties except as a political chip, I admit that the question about casualty projections is, on its own, sound. I think that the post’s hyperbole regarding fortune-telling does it no credit.

There are any number of methods for making such a projection. Naturally, if Rice had produced such a projection, Senator Ma’am would have twisted it to suit whatever she wanted it to suit. However, that doesn’t mean that the question was invalid.

“When I spoke with Santa about his refusal to power his toy shop with solar energy, I reminded him about the Easter Bunny’s commitment to a carbon neutral holiday, and that it would be in his best interest to utilize the carbon neutral initiatives I‘ve spearheaded. Turkey cat, pickle juice.”

Exactly what did Boxer expect to hear, that Rice had consulted a couple of fortune tellers?

Boxer probably expected the White House to run computer models on the theater of war to predict how many men would be killed. You know, like the ones that tell us what the climate’s going to be in 100 years? A simulation of Iraqi political forces (including insurgents and interference by other countries), the tactics, logistics, and strategy of all parties involved, weapon effectiveness and kill ratios — all that ought to be child’s play for one of those big super computers. Right?

I’ve never voted for Boxer or Feinstein but have always been outnumbered by Liberals in this state…I hope that this November there are more like me and less like them…pray for CA…if we sink, we take you with us :(

NRA e-mail on CA legislature
AB1810 Long Gun Registration died on the INACTIVE file on the Senate floor.
AB 1934 open carry FAILED on the Assembly floor with no final vote because the Republican leadership ran out the clock to midnight and the constitutional deadline
AB 2358 (AB962 expansion) FAILED the final vote on the Senate Floor today 20Yes. – 17 No. [ammunition registration extension]
SB250 dog bill failed the final Assembly floor vote 27 yes 39 no

All this in addition to a fail on plastic bag harassment.

The auguries for Nov. are improving. And Fiorina is up.

If anybody sees journeyintothewhirlwind, there is an Air Marshall Arthur Harris quote for him. Even if he knows it, here’s to ya’.

There’s no doubt that Boxer is a pig and her treatment of Secretary Rice was disrespectful. That being said, she’s not really that far off in her remembrance of something that happened three and a half years ago. Boxer derangement syndrome.

Yes, Ma’am Boxer. We can all see just how pleasant and conciliatory you were with Sec. Rice as you aimed to unite for cause – “to bring us together, to bring us together”. The sneering and misplaced lecturing/grandstanding couldn’t have been much worse as you, Ma’am, submitted UK news reports “for the record” over the actual data and policy, aka facts, that the Blair government might normally use for State to State coordination.

Good grief. Boxer is about as arrogant and dishonest as Press Secretary Gibbs… but not quite as pleasant.

Wow, that lady is a few fries short of a happy-meal. In a Republic, she wouldn’t be able to do too much harm in her current condition. Unfortunately, we have devolved into a Democracy thanks to “progressives” (read: socialists).

Either Boxer is deliberately lying about this in order to avoid criticism of her behavior, or she really believes in the fantasy argument she had with Rice in her own mind. I’m not sure which would be worse, but neither recommends Boxer for any further service in the US Senate.

one of the pearls of wisdom from Seinfeld, paraphrased: “It wasn’t a lie…..if SHE believed it!”